Assessment of River Ecological Quality Using B-IBI (Dez River, Southwestern of Iran)

Abstract

Abstract-The aim of this study is to develop a benthic index of biotic integrity (B-IBI) to help understand how the increasing anthropogenic pressure may impact the permanent Dez River in Iran. For this propose, 5 sampling stations with 4 replicates has been selected from January 2012 to June 2013. Also physiochemical parameters of water, grain size analysis and percentage total organic matter (TOM) of sediment was determined. We selected ten metrics for the final IBI. 19 species from 12 families of macrobenthose have been identified. The highest abundance was belong to Oligocheates with 80% and the lowest was belong to Gastropoda with 14.5%. The results of B-IBI showed that most sites were in fairly poor condition. These results suggest that the B-IBI may be a suitable method for assessing Dez river conditions and other rivers with same weathering and ecological conditions.